Momo's mind was whirling with the things Kimbley had told her at breakfast about Mustang. She really didn't know what to think. Kimbley seemed so... happy, almost, to be telling her about the things Mustang had done and then there was the fact that she hadn't seen anything from Mustang himself to indicate that it might be true. But Momo knew her judgement in the past with men that hid themselves wasn't exactly stellar...

Hearing the intercom go off, Momo perked up just a bit from her dour mood at the prospects of bathing. As her doctor wasn't quite ready for her yet, she did have therapy this shift, the shinigami convinced the nurses to let her bathe until her presence was required.

Stepping into the room, she frowned a little seeing there weren't any baths and the shower system appeared to be of a Western design. She should have expected it, but with her bandages, the showers were going to make getting clean much harder. No one else was there, yet, and as she disrobed carefully, the nurse offered to help her wash, taking in the bandages on her neck as well as torso.

How demeaning...

Momo politely declined and, after being warned to keep her bandages dry by the nurse, took her towel and wash cloth to a shower unit off to the side. She fumbled for a moment with the unfamiliar controls, but soon got a gentle warm spray going. She was fairly certain she'd be able to keep the bandages dry, but she wasn't sure if she'd be able to wash her hair.

Running a hand through the shoulder-length black locks, she scowled. Her hair really needed washed.

Sai awoke rather groggily, which wasn't a good sign for a ninja. It meant he was probably ill. He'd need to get checked up with a medic-nin before he did very much more that day. Eyes blinked open slowly to stare at the ceiling and then narrowed in confusion. Not his ceiling. Was he already at the hospital?

"Mr. Pastello... wake up, hon."

Turning his head to the side revealed a vaguely familiar woman in a white uniform. A nurse? ...Oh yes. His nurse. Landels. He sat up at her direction, feeling mildly dizzy as he did so, and glanced down at his arms as he folded them in his lap. They were covered in clean bandages, no longer bleeding. The dizziness told him he was still suffering a bit from the blood loss, however.

When had he passed out? The last few events of the night hadn't been very clear. He didn't know what had happened to the two pirates and, looking around, the mess of blood they had left seemed to have been completely cleaned up. It was amazing, really. He smiled at his nurse, too weary to do much else but let her lead him to breakfast at the moment.

She helped him to his feet, where the light-headedness was even more apparent. It didn't seem to be anything he couldn't put up with, though. The nurse seemed to know a bit about what he suffered from, but made no mention of it aside from telling him to avoid lifting heavy objects and to drink lots of fluids as they made their way to the cafeteria. The subject of blood-sucking leeches never arose, and he figured if it had she'd surely feign ignorance.

It wasn't until they got there that he realized just how absolutely starving he was. He'd had what, corn for dinner? The smells were simply enticing, even though he had no idea what waffles were supposed to be. He was sure anything edible at this point would be fine, and made his way out of his nurse's grip and to the line with more speed then he'd probably ever gone after food at.

[[ from here ]]

The darkness was almost tangible, which was entirely likely considering the numerous laws of physics and general order that the Institute broke. There was hardly time to consider the idea. There wasn't even time to watch where she was going. No, there was only time to close her eyes and let her feet guide her down the path she would always remember. Nightmares and dreams were never so different, after all. And River Tam could never forget.

The hallway was long but not discouragingly so. A means to an end, a means to something tangible and bleak. It was coming.

Renji had mostly been ignoring what the head doctor said, until he got to the magic r-word; that certainly captured his attention. The prospect of rice made him a little more willing to let the nurses separate him and Rukia.

In the lunch line, he piled his plate to the maximum with steamed rice, adding a little chow mein, balanced precariously on the side, as an afterthought. That and tea was all he needed.

He sat somewhere he'd be pretty easy to spot from the door and started wolfing down his rice. He wondered if Hisoka and his friends would show up before he headed to the lunch line to get seconds.

Elena was not exactly thrilled with the idea of playing in dirt. It was just...dirt. Gardening held no joy for her. Anything that anyone tried to plant in Midgar died almost immediately, so why bother? All of the plants in the little parks that Shin-Ra had created to keep the denizens of the Upper Plates happy were artificial. The only time she ever got to see plants that weren't fake was on daytrips to Kalm or holidays spent with relatives in Icicle Inn.

She'd never worked with them before.

Sighing, Elena accepted a pair of too-big gardening gloves. They had been pink, at one point, with little blue flowers. Now they were just a sort of spotty brown. Frowning, she poked at the small potted violet that a nurse had set in front of her with a little plastic shovel that looked like it had come from a child's playset. What was she supposed to be doing with it?

Kuja was, in fact, quite surprised to suddenly find himself in bed. An odd turn of events, as he previously remembered investigating the contents of a closet. If the genome hadn't known any better, he would have thought he hadn't even left the room. However, the items he was still holding obviously proved such thoughts untrue; he had left his room.

This cage was a peculiar one.

In any case, unlike the night the day seemed the appropriate time to perhaps take a rest from all the danger lurking in the darkness. While he was resting his wings, perhaps it wouldn't hurt to "socialize" with the other patients, as allies would certainly be more useful during the night (and not merely to open doors for him). Perhaps he had made a fool out of himself tonight, but such wouldn't happen twice. Not everyone was fond of an encore, after all.

The sorcerer silently stepped out of bed, noticing his roommate was still asleep. The man didn't waste any time, however, as he hastily stored the items into his own closet, camouflaging it with clothes. Nurses finding his newly acquired items was the last thing Kuja needed, after all.

After he had closed the doors of said closet, another door opened as an extremely cheerful woman came in. Such contrast with the night, but the actors played their parts well.

Perhaps too well...

Kuja allowed himself to be escorted to the cafeteria, his attempt to gain more information from the nurse proving to be completely fruitless. Halfway, he had given up, as the staff seemed not as stupid as the Alexandrian court. Either they were acting, or they were unaware of the role they were playing. Regardless, they were mere pawns.

After he had filled his plate with some food, he seated himself at one of the tables, purposely choosing a place where he could easily watch the others patients entering. Blue eyes studying the various canaries flying within their cage as they were finally allowed an opportunity to rest their wings, he picked up a fork and began eating his breakfast.

The intercom jingle rang out both inside and outside the institute on speakers loud enough to broadcast clearly across the recreational field.

"It's been a busy day, hasn't it? Well, fortunately for all of us, it's nearly over, and we can all look forward to some rejuvenating shut-eye--that is, after dinner, of course."

The Head Doctor chuckled.

"Supper for tonight is going to consist of individual servings of chicken pot pie, with mashed potatoes and peas as sides. You may ask your nurse about the usual selection of drinks, and... Oh! Some of you might find that you have some new guests in your rooms belonging to... Group 5, I believe...? Please see to it that our new patients spend their first night at Landel's Institute as peacefully as possible!"

He paused, then added:

"Oh, and Nurse Hondor? Could you please report to my office? Thank you."

The intercom clicked off.

[ OOC: Remember how dinner shift works--everyone posts to this post with individual threads for each room. New characters waking up during this shift will do so in their respective threads, though if your roommate's player is unable to play with you during your intro, feel free to work something out so that your roommate is taking a nap or something. XD; ]

And once again the intercom's jingle rang out through the rooms and halls as the Head Doctor took a breath and repeated what by now must have been a fairly tedious endeavor.

"And I believe it's time for another activity period! Now that you've gotten some sun in the courtyard, perhaps it's time to take in more fresh air with a trip to the recreational field! After all, I believe tomorrow is the day when all of you will have structured activities in the greenhouse and courtyard, so now would be a good time for you to familiarize yourselves with at least one of those areas!"

The Head Doctor clearly wasn't taking into account any midnight explorations that his patients might had made. He continued, just as cheerily:

"As for nurses, please make sure to introduce Group 4's members to our current patients? I hope they all find a pleasant time here at Landel's, and I hope you all have a fun time on the field! If you want any balls or equipment, you may ask nurses for them--but nurses, I believe you know which items would be safe for patients and which wouldn't be, hmm?

"In any case, I believe that's all for today. Farewell for now!"

The intercom clicked off and the routine ended, just the same as always.